Commercial aircraft suffer regular damage from service vehicles that collide with them while the aircraft are parked at the gate or other service location. Engine housings are particularly vulnerable. The housings are a particular risk due to their location low to the ground and the expense of the parts. All flight-line vehicles including fuel trucks, ground power carts, baggage trains, cargo loaders, galley services vehicles, and mobile exit ramps pose a collision risk. Not only is the damage expensive to repair, it can affect the dispatch of the aircraft at great cost to the airlines. The damage expense is multiplied with newer aircraft constructed of lighter weight materials such as composites. The dispatch of composite aircraft is more affected by minor collisions than aluminum aircraft, because dispatch based on visual inspection alone may not suffice.
Airborne collision avoidance and even runway collision avoidance has been addressed. These avoidance remedies presume aircraft movement and high-speed collisions. However, slow speed “minor” collision avoidance with a stationary aircraft and a service vehicle has not been adequately prevented due to the reliance on human intervention to avoid a “bump.”
Repair and dispatch delay expenses are not the only costs resulting from the risk of such collisions. The aircraft parts that regularly suffer small bumps have been designed tougher and, consequently, heavier in an attempt to withstand some such blows. This extra heavy equipment is more expensive to produce and more expensive to fly.